The study of landscape units in Pantanal biome

Abstract

The geoecological landscape observation allows the analysis of geosystems fragmentation in small areas or a diagnosis of a particular environment or biome. This geosystemic approach permits the integration of elements that constitutes the environment, allowing the interaction and interdependence analysis of social and ecological elements. The main goal of this work was to elaborate a map of landscape units and a territorial planning for Pantanal biome, using data generated by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) corresponding to morphometric relief units, geology, soils and agricultural capability; the land cover and land use map developed by the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA) and the maps of flooded areas and spatial variability of the Pantanal biome. From the crosstab between altitude, slope, spatial variability map and geology we identified 16 landscape units. Additionally, the analysis of Pantanal biome environmental vulnerability of the landscape units considering different types of vegetation, topography and soils units showed that Pantanal has an intermediate environmental fragility, located mainly in the alluvial deposition areas of the Taquari river and in flood plains with altitude between 50 and 250 meters.

Keywords

• Pantanal
• landscape
• periodic flooding regime